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Many modern cameras ship with an assisted panorama mode, and affordable consumer-grade software will automatically stitch photos together at the push of a button. These techniques lead to some really impressive images, but researchers at Queen’s University in Ontario are taking the core concept of panoramic photography to the next level. Instead of taking a series of photos, and then stitching them together later, the Flexcam uses a flexible array of three cameras, and dynamically expands the width of the photo as you bend the device itself.

Back in May of 2012, three members of the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University published a research paper explaining their use of a FOLED (Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, three cameras, and an Arduino to build a prototype of the ultimate panoramic device. It was a clever idea, but with all of the hype around different types of flexible technology, this paper was easily forgotten. That is, until actual footage of a working Flexcam was released.

This video, compiled from footage of last year’s prototype, shows off just how interesting and intuitive this camera actually is. With a simple wrist movement, the field of view starts to expand, and keeps going as you continue bending. As you resize the field of view, the screen dynamically updates with a stitched panoramic image. Even better, by capturing the images from all three cameras simultaneously, the issue of objects moving between shots is completely nullified.

Clearly, this prototype is far from perfect. The screen is low-res (320×240), the images aren’t aligned perfectly on the display, and it’s still rather bulky. Even so, the idea of combining tactile image manipulation with a camera array is inherently compelling. With the FOLEDs quickly making their way to the consumer market, it’s only a matter of time before we see an electronics company crib from this research in some way.

With the addition of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and multitouch in smartphones, developers have been able to construct very clever tools to advance digital photography in meaningful ways. Tap to focus, digitally assisted alignment, and image stabilization have made it much easier to take photos that are worthy of sharing. Add in flex sensors and two more rear-facing cameras, and we could see a whole new batch of applications to take advantage of these quirky features. At the very least, they would make for one hell of an on-stage demo.